Bali: The disappearance of a fishermen’s village

Bali: The disappearance of a fishermen’s village

We pushed the canoe through the turf and climbing on board he suggested I take the helm while he would hoist the sail. Being aboard this fast sailing lightweight canoe, carried by the swell of the blue sea, brought back images so vividly described in Hemingway's book The old man and the sea. After leaving the coast, going further onto the sea we eventually changed track and went north. I learned from the fisherman that the daily catch of fish was very meagre. Fishermen had to leave home early morning, around 4 AM, and had to venture out far off the coast to find fish. When I spotted my hotel near the beach we set course for the coast. When we had reached the shore again, I paid the fisherman and we parted amicably, in good spirit.

A traditional Balinese fishing boat

Luxury hotels Today, after having spent a week back in Nusa Dua to attend RSPO meetings, I had again some time to spare and I walked along the beach, heading in the same direction as 6 years ago. However, where I expected to find the fishing village I only saw newly built luxury hotels and beach resorts. Two fishermen were hauling their small canoe onto the beach. When I asked them about the fishing village, they confirmed that the village had vanished. After that conversation they pulled the canoe further and stored it alongside a few other canoes under some bushes on the last remaining piece of barren land, where bill boards already announced that soon that last tract of land would be converted into luxurious villas as well.

When I continued my journey I met two watchman who, when I asked them some questions about the fishing village, vaguely confirmed that this kampong had indeed disappeared. Some of the fisher folk were likely to have found jobs with the hotels, like combing the beaches to make them look tidy, or perhaps with some luck they would earn an income taking tourists on a trip to the sea. The watchmen also said that some of the fishermen families may have settled in the hinterland.

It is cause for concern that such a village can be bulldozed into oblivion, to be erased and forgotten – a village that has been home to probably many generations of fisher folk. It is unlikely the villagers had any choice but to leave. One should have no illusions that the inhabitants of this fishing community were compensated for the loss of their houses, their yard, the jungle which surrounded their village and their free access to the beach and the sea. Although the history of this village may go back a long time, most probably the community had no legal paperwork such as land titles to support the claim they may have had to this land. The beaches are usurped by big players with deep pockets, with the backing of the local government. And I must admit that I myself am also directly involved when staying in these hotels to be conveniently nearby the conference centre where I have meetings to attend.

Hotels instead of the fishing village

A culture evaporated I do not claim to present a researched and documented narrative of this Nusa Dua fishermen village. But nonetheless, its story seems just one more example of a worldwide phenomenon, a process which Saskia Sassen described as 'expulsion'.

Many would argue that this is an unavoidable consequence of the dynamics of society. And maybe there may be no reason to romanticise the life of these fishing communities. As I mentioned, the fishermen' daily catch of fish was dismally small, already 6 years ago. Moreover, it is a precarious profession, as every day fishermen run the risk of getting caught up in a typhoon, without their canoes being equipped with rescue rafts or safety vests.

At the same time, it is extremely worrisome that such villages are simply destroyed, with their inhabitants getting scattered and the whole social fabric, customs and history evaporating, denying people their legitimate right to self-determination. And with that, a unique culture, with its skills, crafts and stories, is slipping away.

This, I feel, is not something just to leave unchallenged.

Local inhabitants now comb the beaches to make a living

Expulsion:

Looking at the way capitalist society values and includes its members, Saskia Sassen came to a definition of social expulsion of those people that reside at the edge of a system - as opposed to exclusion. Exclusion would be the prevention of people outside that system entering it. Expulsion she describes as the act of those already within the system being ejected from it. Source: https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/events/2012/06/23/beyond-social-exclusion-emerging-logics-of-expulsion-with-saskia-sassen/ And: S. Stassen, Expulsions: Brutality and Complexity in the Global Economy, Harvard University Press, May 2014.

Themes

Countries

Read more about this subject

In 2016, the state forest around the community of Kasepuhan Karang, in Java, Indonesia, was transformed into customary lands. With these newly acquired land tenure rights, the community has started initiatives to use their land in a sustainable and inclusive way. What this means for the community in terms of livelihoods and food security, became clear during a field visit at the start of the Global Land Forum 2018.

Pak Japin is a quiet, slim, and softly-spoken man from the village of Silat Hulu, West Kalimantan, Indonesia. I met him at a recent documentary screening in Bali on the fringe of the Round Table for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) annual conference, where he spoke about his community's nine year-long conflict with palm oil company Golden Agri Resources Ltd (GAR).

Between 2010 and 2013, Both ENDS, together with Indonesian and Dutch organisations and universities, conducted a project in the district of Sanggau in West-Kalimantan, on the island of Borneo, Indonesia. The project was meant to help local communities with the recognition of their land rights and. This is a beautiful short documentary about how the people of one of these villages responded to the ever expanding palm oil plantations around them.

In 2005, a palm oil company approached the villagers of Kiungkang in West-Kalimantan, Indonesia, with offers to convert their farms to oil palm smallholdings. Many farmers agreed to the proposal because of the high monthly incomes promised by the company that they could earn from the oil palms. Unfortunately, the palm oil dream turned out to be an illusion.

21 April 2017: Jakarta is sinking. Excessive groundwater extraction is causing the metropolis to sink by dozens of centimetres each year, making it more vulnerable to flooding. Dutch businesses have come up with a solution: an immense sea wall on the coast, which is also a stunning real estate project. But this intervention is just a pseudo-solution, say researchers from Both ENDS, Stichting Onderzoek Multinationale Ondernemingen (SOMO) and the Transnational Institute (TNI) today in a new report. Even worse, the project threatens the livelihoods of tens of thousands of people employed in local fisheries.

Between 2010 and 2013, Both ENDS, within an alliance of Indonesian and Dutch organisations and universities, conducted a pilot project to improve the spatial planning in the district of Sanggau in West-Kalimantan, on the island of Borneo, Indonesia, to help local communities with the recognition of their land rights. We can show you a beautiful documentary about one of the villages in this district, Terusan.

From the first moment I arrive in Surabaya, I enter the rollercoaster called ECOTON. I'm visiting them to get to know the work of this long-time Both ENDS partner, and have only three days for this. But ECOTON does a lot, and all of it at the same time. Tirelessly, they work on the protection of the Brantas River.

November 2017. A delegation of the Dutch dredging company Van Oord listens to fishermen from communities around Suape harbour, Brazil. For the fishing communities, the meeting meant a long-awaited breakthrough in their efforts to have their grievances heard. Their fishing grounds have been damaged ever since Van Oord started deepening the sea access channel to the port seven years ago.

On 30 September 2017 Both ENDS submitted a position statement on the draft Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil National Action Plan. The draft National Action Plan purports to represent a blue print for improving the sustainability of the Indonesian palm oil industry. However, Both ENDS has significant concerns about the logic, rationale and purpose behind the draft National Action Plan and its legitimacy as a benchmark for a sustainable palm oil industry.

Indonesia has many rivers, but clean water is increasingly scarce. To address the Indonesian water crisis, Both ENDS and 3 Indonesian civil society organisations initiated IndoWater Community of Practice. IndoWaterCoP is born out of concern that the implementation of Indonesian water resource management is failing. It aims to assist Indonesian government to improve its performance.

The Indonesia Water Community of Practice (IndoWater CoP) was declared on December 3, 2014 by a group of Indonesian NGOs whose members felt very concerned about the poor management of Indonesia's water resources due to a lack of integrated planning on river basin management, community participation and law enforcement.

A protected nature reserve, better waste processing, restricted mining and participation of local residents in water management: these are the results of eight years of working on a Negotiated Approach to integrated water management in five river basins in Indonesia.

The production of palm oil is causing social and environmental problems worldwide. Both ENDS is working to make the sector fairer and more sustainable and is promoting alternatives for palm oil.

Our mission

Together with environmental justice groups from the Global South, Both ENDS works towards a sustainable, fair and inclusive world. We gather and share information about policy and investments that have a direct impact on people and their livelihood, we engage in joint advocacy, we stimulate the dialogue between stakeholders and we promote and support sustainable local alternatives.